Big 5 is hit with suit over gun sale

Manager quit after she had to sell to a man she found threatening.

He was a customer who wanted to buy a gun. She was a store manager who balked, finding the man erratic, threatening and potentially dangerous.

Their tense interaction at a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Downey prompted police to step in.

After company officials overruled her and released a weapon to the customer, Delilah Rios resigned. In a lawsuit filed this week, she alleged wrongful termination and violation of labor laws, among other claims.

“She feared for her safety and felt that money meant more to Big 5 Corp. than public safety or employee safety,” according to the lawsuit. “She felt she could not work at a company where she would be forced to release firearms to people who should not have guns.”

A spokesman for the El Segundo company did not respond to a request for comment.

In her suit, Rios said the problem began Jan. 21, 2015, when she assisted a middleaged man who wanted to purchase a firearm. The customer passed a newly instituted safety test but stormed into the “restricted area” of the store when she was processing his payment, retrieved his identification and credit card and left.

Two days later, he returned and said he wanted “any crappy old gun,” selecting a 12-gauge shotgun. A friend helped him fill out a federally required form documenting the sale. When Rios told him he was legally required to complete the form alone, the customer became agitated, the lawsuit said. He later accused her of selling him the wrong weapon and returned the next day to select another model.

After the mandatory 10day waiting period, he came to the store on the night of Feb. 4, 2015, but Rios said that the store was busy — she was working at the cash register for an employee on break — and that she did not have enough time to release the firearm.

“I paid for it, and you need to give me my ... gun,” he said, according to the lawsuit. He left after she threatened to call police.

Later that evening, she found unused ammunition on the floor in the aisle where the man had lingered, but it was not a type sold by Big 5. She became concerned the customer was bringing in live ammunition for the exact firearm he wanted to pick up, according to the suit.

She reported the incident to upper management and, against her opposition, a supervisor called the customer and asked him if he had brought in the ammunition.

The next day, the man returned and became irate and yelled loudly as she approached. “You again. I … hate people like you. People like you should not exist,” he said, according to the suit. “I hope you get fired.”

She was afraid and told him she would not hand over the firearm. She offered a refund, but he refused to leave.

Two off-site supervisors questioned why she could not just release the gun. Another manager who was on his day off eventually came and, with police present, handed over the gun along with a $25 gift card, according to the lawsuit.

Afterward, Rios reported the incident to human resources and asked to work at a different store. Her request was denied, and she resigned. She had worked for the company for eight years, according to the suit.